Around the World in Seven Vehicles

Great design ideas build great brands, a principle embraced by Honda with their latest design concept to promote driverless vehicles.

The idea is simple: design a driverless vehicle capable of ferrying passengers in style around the world, tracing mankind's migration from the plains of Africa up to Asia and across the ocean to North and South America. The designers, led by Map Project Office and Morihiro Harano of Mori Inc, quickly realised that this epic journey cannot be made in a single vehicle. Instead they designed seven vehicles, each tailored to a specific type of terrain. We particularly like the Safari Drifter, a camper van lookalike complete with a roof-mounted viewing platform which can be attached to a hot air balloon for a more elevated view. Even creature comforts are catered for, hence the hammock at the back of the Island Hopper amphibious vehicle and the integrated hot tub of the Tundra Sled which, rather improbably, is powered by a team of husky-like wheel / drones.

These fun and fantastical designs, brought to life with stop-motion movies created by Petr Krejci and Ogle Models, may seem whimsical but nevertheless serve to showcase futuristic technologies under development at Honda, including driverless vehicles, fuel cells and drones. Above all, they inspire us to dream about the future, which is what great design can do.

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Product Inspiration

Furniture with imaginative designs and interesting inspirations make wonderful talking points. The Chubby Chic armchair from Diesel Living, Twine coffee table from Casamania and Toadstool sofa from Missana all tell their own stories.